To be placed on the Dean's List for the quarter you must satisfy the following requirements:

• Your quarterly GPA must be a 3.4 or higher
• You must have registered for and completed at least 12 credits for the quarter
• You may not have any grades of Incomplete, D, E, or F
• You may not be on probation due to a low cumulative GPA in your principal field of study

Please see the catalog for further information: http://www.rit.edu/academicaffairs/Manual/sectionD/D5.html

An Early Alert email is sent from your instructor when your instructor deems that you are doing poorly in a course. This email is a warning to you that you may be getting into academic trouble if you do not address the situation soon. Please keep in mind that you can always talk to your instructor about what you can do to improve in the course and you can always talk to your advisor about resources on campus that can help you.

A student is put on probation when his/her cumulative GPA, quarterly GPA, and/or principal field of study GPA (once 20 units have been earned) drops below a 2.0. If a student remains on probation for an additional 2 consecutive quarters they will be considered for suspension from RIT. If you are placed on probation, schedule an appointment to see your academic advisor immediately!!!

If you are suspended from RIT, you may not return to the Institute for one year. After one year you must reapply through the Office of Admissions for re-admission to the program, if you so desire. You can contact the NSSA Student Services Office at (585) 475-2700 to schedule an appointment with the NSSA Undergraduate Program Coordinator to further discuss your suspension.

The liberal arts core consists of writing seminar, two humanities courses, two social science courses, an arts of expression course, and a liberal arts concentration or minor. These courses are generally completed throughout your first and second years at RIT. For more detailed information on which courses fulfill these requirements you can visit the College of Liberal Arts Advising website at: http://www.rit.edu/cla/overview.php

You can apply for your liberal arts concentration any time except during the registration period. You can log onto the Student Information System using your ID and PIN, once you are in the system click on "Liberal Arts Concentration Sign-up" and follow the prompts to declare your concentration. You can go to the following website to see the list of liberal arts concentrations and their requirements: http://www.rit.edu/cla/concentrations.php

In order to add a minor you must pick up a "Minor Authorization Form" and get signatures of approval from the minor advisor and your home department head. The Minor Authorization Forms are available in the NSSA Student Services Office, Liberal Arts, or the Office of the Registrar. The available Liberal Arts minors, who the advisor is for each minor, and the advisor's email address can be found at: http://www.rit.edu/cla/concentrations.php.

Keep in mind there are minors in other departments and colleges on campus. You can go to the following website for a complete list of minors offered at RIT: http://www.rit.edu/programs/ugrad/minors/. It is strongly recommended that you meet with your academic advisor to discuss how a minor will fit into your academic program.

Each quarter the Office of the Registrar prints a Schedule of Classes showing all procedures, deadlines, and course offerings. These can be obtained approximately the fifth week of the preceding quarter in the NSSA Student Services Office or at the Office of the Registrar. The course offerings are subject to change and an updated listing is available under the heading "Open and Closed Courses" on Info Center/SIS.

You can register for classes either via telephone or internet. If you would like to register via telephone you can call (585) 475-6717 and follow the prompts.

If you would like to register via the internet you must log-on to your SIS account using your RIT log-in ID and password. You will then be asked to enter your UID number and your six-digit pin number. If you cannot remember your pin number you must go to the Office of the Registrar to obtain it. Once you are in the system select "Register for Classes." There are two methods you can use to register for your classes.

Method 1 - Use this if you know the course numbers for the courses you would like to take:

1. Enter the course number (do not use the dashes)
2. Select "Add a new course"
3. If the course has seats remaining you will see the course appear on your schedule. You will receive a message if the course is full.

Method 2 - Use this method if you would like to select from the list of offered courses by department:

1. Select the discipline you would like to take the course in from the pull-down menu
2. Click the "Refresh" button beneath the pull-down menu
3. Select the course you would like to take from the pull-down menu
4. Click "Add"

You can also drop a course from your schedule by checking the box next to the course you would like to drop on your schedule and then click "Drop Class".

• 1st and 2nd year students: 18 credits
• 3rd and 4th year students with a cumulative GPA of a 3.1 or lower: 18 credits
  *If you fall into this category and would like to register for over 18 credits you must obtain special permission from the NSSA Undergraduate Program Coordinator.*
• 3rd and 4th year students with a cumulative GPA of a 3.2 or higher: 20 credits
• Other than students in the Honors Program, matriculated students registering for over 20 credits in one quarter will be charged full-time tuition plus the applicable credit rate for each credit over 20.

You may add and drop classes during the first 6 days of the quarter using the Student Information System (SIS). During the registration period, if a course you wish to add into is full go to Unmet Needs to register your request. If they are unable to accommodate your request or if the quarter you would like to take the course in has already begun, try attending the first day of the course. You will want to be sure that you bring an add/drop form with you so if the instructor chooses to, they can sign you in. Keep in mind that the instructor may not sign you into the course, so be sure to have alternative courses either in mind or registered for. If the instructor does sign you into the course you will need to take it to the appropriate department for processing. If the course is a NSSA course bring it to the NSSA Student Services Office in Building 70, Room 2145, if the course is a Liberal Arts course it must be taken to the Liberal Arts Department, etc. Always be sure to check your schedule after you make any changes to be sure that the correct changes were made.
You can drop classes online through SIS during the first 6 days of the quarter. You do not need to get the instructor's signature to drop the course during these 6 days. If you would like to be removed from a course after the first 6 days of the quarter you will need to submit a withdrawal request.

You may withdraw from a course from the second to the eighth week of the quarter. When you see your grade report at the end of the quarter you will see a grade of "W" next to all courses you withdrew from. The "W" will not affect your GPA. To withdraw from a course you will need to file an online request. Once you have placed your request, your instructor, advisor, and department head will be notified. Keep in mind that financial aid is usually based on you being a full-time student (taking 12 units) so if withdrawing from a course will put you under 12 units for the quarter you will want to see your Financial Aid Counselor and your Resident Assistant if you are living in the residence halls.
NOTE: If you intend to withdraw from all your courses, you must see your professional academic advisor.

You can see which books you need to buy for your courses using the Student Information System. Follow these steps to access your current book list:

1. Log into the Student Information System and select "Academic Information"
2. Select "Class Schedule"
3. Select the appropriate year and quarter
4. At the top of the page you will see "Click to order textbooks online" this will bring up your current booklist for the selected quarter. You may need to check back as the beginning of the quarter gets closer for a complete book list.

Placement exams are designed for those who have taken courses at another institution or who have existing work skills that satisfy the requirements of selected NSSA courses. Through these placement exams these courses may be waived. Students must consult with the NSSA Undergraduate Program Coordinator and successfully complete the exams. Exams are given for the following courses: 4002-217, 4002-320, 4050-350, 4050-351, and 4050-402. Successful completion of any placement exam does NOT give you credit for the course. Upon successful completion of a placement exam, the course will be waived as a requirement and a NSSA elective must be completed to fulfill the credit requirements. For more information and how to register to take an exam please see the following website: Placement Exams - for NSSA placement exams, those with the prefix of 4050.
Or
http://www.it.rit.edu/it/courses/placementExams.maml - for Information Technology placement exams, those with the prefix of 4002.

Before you take a course from another college or university that you would like to use toward your degree at RIT, it MUST be preapproved. If the course is to be used in your Liberal Arts requirements, your concentration, or your minor you must have either Liberal Arts or your minor advisor preapprove the course. You can contact Liberal Arts by phone at (585) 475-2444 to find out how to get your course preapproved. If you want to take a course to satisfy your NSSA requirements, math and science, general education electives, or free electives you will need to submit a request form (hotlink). This form must be turned in to the NSSA Student Services Office in Building 70, Room 2145. You will receive an email to your RIT email account to let you know if the course has been approved.

If you have courses that have not been transferred to RIT from another college or university you will need to have an official transcript from each school sent to the Office of the Registrar. All transcripts must be mailed, the Office of the Registrar does not accept hand-delivered transcripts.

General education electives can be any math, science, or liberal arts course beyond what is required for your liberal arts portion of your degree. Math and science courses begin with 10 and liberal arts courses begin with a 05. For example, Computer Crime offered through the Department of Criminal Justice is a liberal arts course with a course number of 0501-507. The first two bolded numbers indicate it is a liberal arts course. If you are unsure if a course will fulfill a requirement feel free to email your academic advisor.

Your communication elective can be fulfilled using one of the courses on the following list. Any courses not on this list must be preapproved to meet this requirement.

• 0502-443 Written Argument
• 0502-444 Technical Writing
• 0502-460 Science Writing
• 0535-403 Effective Technical Writing
• 0535-414 Interpersonal Communications
• 0535-415 Organizational Communications
• 0535-422 Ethics in Technical Communications
• 0535-480 Human Communication
• 0535-481 Persuasion
• 0535-482 Mass Communications
• 0535-483 Small Group Communication
• 0535-501 Effective Speaking

Free electives can come from any department on campus. They can include business courses, other NSSA courses, etc. If you are unsure if a course will fulfill that requirement feel free to email your academic advisor.

All students are required to complete two Physical Education Activity courses as part of their degree requirements. These courses are not credit bearing, but are required to earn either degree offered through the NSSA department. You can go to the following website for more information about this requirement: http://www.rit.edu/studentaffairs/ciar/interactiveadventures_activitycourses.php

An email is sent out to all students with 135 earned hours at the beginning of each quarter reminding students that if they are planning to have their degree completed in the next four quarters they need to take the steps needed to apply for certification.
You will need to visit the Liberal Arts Advising Office located in Building 6, Room 2210 to have your Liberal Arts evaluation completed. Once that is complete you will need to schedule an appointment to meet with your academic advisor to review your remaining requirements. When you come to that appointment be sure to bring the Liberal Arts evaluation and the Application for Graduation. You will be evaluated for certification after your coursework has been completed.

Graduating with honors can mean different things depending on what type of honors you are referring to. Most students mean honors in terms of cumulative GPA at the time of graduation. Honors is broken down into three levels:

• Honors: 3.4-3.59 GPA
• High Honors: 3.6-3.79 GPA
• Highest Honors: 3.8-4.0 GPA

Graduating with honors can also mean completing the RIT Honors Program. For more information on the honors program at RIT you can go to http://honors.rit.edu/.

To make an appointment to meet with your academic advisor you can call the Student Services Office at (585) 475-2700 or you can stop by the NSSA Student Services Office in Building 70, Room 2145. Keep in mind that there is a five-minute late policy and if you are more than five minutes late to your appointment you will be asked to reschedule.

Before you change into a different program be sure to fully research the program, what it offers in terms of courses and training, what jobs you can get with a degree from the program, etc. If, after you do all of the research, you decide that the new program is right for you, you will need to contact the academic advisor for the potential new program. When you go in to meet with the advisor ask them to review your credits and how your previous coursework will fit into their curriculum. Keep in mind that all of your credits may not be able to be applied to the requirements of the new program. The meeting with the academic advisor DOES NOT guarantee you will be accepted into the new program. If you decide that you would like to officially change programs you must complete the Change of Program form and meet with your current academic advisor. Your current department will forward your request to the department you wish to transfer into and the new department will notify you if you are accepted or not.
If you would like transfer into one of the programs in the Department of Networking, Security, and Systems Administration you will need to schedule an appointment with the NSSA Undergraduate Program Coordinator by calling (585) 475-2700 or by coming to the NSSA Student Services Office in Building 70, Room 2145. Change of Program applications will be reviewed during weeks 1 through 5. Those accepted into one of the NSSA programs will need to meet with the NSSA Academic Advisor to determine which courses to take in future quarters. Students attempting to change into one of the NSSA programs during weeks 6 through 10 can meet with the NSSA Undergraduate Program Coordinator, but applications will not be reviewed until grades are in for the quarter. Students will not be able to register for NSSA classes while restrictions are in place until they are officially accepted into the program.

The information you need to contact your instructors should be located on your syllabus for the course. The contact information for all NSSA faculty members can also be found at our website under "People".

To update your address with the university you can log onto your Student Information System (SIS) account and change your address.
To update your address with the department you need to email your full name and updated address to nssaaddresschange@rit.edu.

It is possible to graduate in four years, but there are a few things that you must do to help that happen:

• Meet with your academic advisor on a regular basis- at least once a year at minimum
• Meet with your faculty advisor regularly to be sure you are completing the program that best suits your interests and career goals
• Take and complete 16 credits per quarter
• Study and work hard in each class so you do not have to repeat barely passed or failed courses

You can use the four-year plan handout provided by the NSSA Student Services Office as a guide to help you when registering for your courses, but keep in mind that it is not a substitute for your academic advisor.

If you would like to retake a course to earn a higher grade you will need to re-register for the same course. The grade you earn in your final attempt will be the final grade and the grade used in your GPA. All previous attempts of the course will remain on your official transcript and a notation of "RE" will be added next to the previous grade indicating the course has been repeated.

The NSSA Department at RIT does not require that you have a computer when you enter our BS degree program. Every assignment or task required of you can be accomplished in our well-equipped laboratories. However, having your own computer has the advantage of allowing you to work from your place of residence. Whether or not you choose a laptop or a desktop is a matter of personal preference. The RIT campus is wireless enabled, making laptops considerably more versatile. Suggested minimum specifications are given below.

Your choice of a laptop depends on a number of factors. RIT has a preferred vendor, Govconnection, where you will find discounted pricing on all products to RIT students. Their web site for RIT is at http://www.govconnection.com/rit. While many academic and administrative units at RIT have purchased from Dell, known for their good educational discounts and service, the NSSA department is extremely pleased with the Lenovo Thinkpad and Apple MacBook Pro laptops. Both vendor products are field proven and dependable.

Apple and Dell products can be ordered through RIT's bookstore, Campus Connections. A link to buy a computer is located on their site at http://bookstore.rit.edu. The IBM Thinkpad can be ordered through Govconnection. The RIT account is handled by Ed Reed, 1.800.800.0017 ext 75028. Be sure to indicate you are an RIT student.

Laptop

Suggested minimum specifications for a laptop are as follows:

Windows

• Processor: 2 GHz (minimum), Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Dual Core
• Memory: 1 GB (2GB preferred)
• Hard Drive: Hard Drive: 80GB hard drive (minimum)
• Display: 15.4 inch, 1280x800
• Graphics card comparable to: ATI Mobility Radeon or NVidea GeForce w/ 256 MB video memory
• CD Drive: DVD+-RW
• Wireless: Built-in 802.11(a/b/g)
• Networking: Built-in 10/100MB
• Battery: Lithium Ion
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional Edition or Microsoft Vista
• Carrying Case or Backpack with laptop compartment

Apple - Mac Book Pro

• Processor: 2GHz Intel Core Duo
• Memory: 1 GB (2GB preferred)
• Hard Drive: 80GB Serial ATA hard drive
• Display: 13 or 15.4-inch widescreen display, 1440x900 resolution
• DVD Drive: 6x Super Drive
• Wireless: AirPort Extreme wireless networking (802.11b/g)
• Carrying Case or Backpack with laptop compartment

Desktop

Suggested minimum specifications for a desktop are as follows:

Windows

• Processor: 3.4GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Dual Core
• Memory: 1 GB (2GB preferred)
• Hard Drive: 80GB hard drive (minimum)
• Monitor: 19 inch Flat Panel, 1280x1024
• Graphics comparable to: ATI x1600 or NVidea GeForce w/ 256 MB video memory
• CD Drive: DVD +- RW Burner
• Networking: Built-in 10/100MB
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional Edition or Microsoft Vista

Apple - iMac or Tower

• Processor: 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo
• Memory: 1 GB (2GB preferred)
• Hard Drive: 160GB Serial ATA hard drive
• Display: Built in 17 inch monitor
• CD Drive: Superdrive DVD/CD burner
• Networking: Built-in 10/100MB

A double major is one degree, for example Bachelor of Science, but it is awarded with two complete majors (one diploma with two majors listed). The criteria to complete a double major is:

• Double majors are available to matriculated baccalaureate students only.
• Both majors in a double major degree must be existing approved degree programs.
• Students must meet the entrance criteria for both programs.
• A double major degree requires the approval of the department heads of both degree programs, who should take into consideration issues such as potential scheduling conflicts.
• A double major degree must satisfy the graduation and accreditation requirements for both degree programs.
• Both degree programs must be of the same type (i.e., both BS degrees or both BFA degrees). The double major will be the same type as the two component majors.
• It is possible to use a single requirement to meet the needs of both majors; double counting is allowed so long as the department heads of both degree programs approve it.
• The degrees must have 28 unique units taken between the two majors. In cases where the two majors do not have 28 unique and non-overlapping credit hours, students must take enough additional course credits in either or both majors to meet the 28 credit minimum.
• Curriculum requirements for the double major will be developed by the appropriate personnel of the two degree programs and approved by the department heads of both degree programs.
• Students will need to fill out the "Undergraduate Double Major Authorization Form" and obtain the approval signatures on the form.

It is possible to complete a double major in Applied Networking and Systems Administration (ANSA) and Information Security and Forensics (ISF).
A dual degree is two degrees, for example a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Fine Arts. The completed degrees are awarded as separate degrees (two diplomas each with a major). The criteria to complete a dual degree is:

• Dual degrees are available to matriculated baccalaureate students only.
• The second undergraduate degree must be in a different programmatic area and must require at least 60 quarter credit hours beyond the first baccalaureate degree for a minimum of 240 total credit hours.
• For a student to complete two undergraduate degrees at the same time s/he would have to take the lower minimum number of hours between the two programs plus a minimum additional 60 quarter credit hours.
• Students should consult his/her financial aid counselor before deciding to do this to make certain that the added quarters as an undergraduate will not mean that near the end of the dual program they lose financial support by overreaching their eligibility.
• Students should consult with advisors in both departments to ensure that the courses for both programs are completed in a timely and efficient manner.
• Students will need to fill out the "Dual Undergraduate Degree Authorization Form" and obtain the approval signatures on the form.

If you would like to discuss either of these options and how it would pertain to your personal degree program please schedule an appointment to meet with the NSSA Academic Advisor.